N.Y Times Article: Ryan The Motivator

Jets 24, Texans 7

Jets Respond to the Voice of a New Era

GREG BISHOP
Published: September 13, 2009

HOUSTON ? The seeds for the Jets? season-opening trouncing of the Houston Texans were planted Saturday night at the team hotel. There, on the eve of his first game as a head coach, Rex Ryan delivered a speech his players described as fiery and passionate.


When Ryan finished, fullback Tony Richardson said, every person in the room, including General Manager Mike Tannenbaum, wanted to grab shoulder pads and head straight for Reliant Stadium. Ryan had given the Jets more than a blueprint with his speech. He had delivered genuine, powerful inspiration.

It showed Sunday against the favored Houston Texans, the hometown team the Jets defeated, 24-7, behind a destructive defense and in front of 70,118 fans. Ryan and the rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez secured their first N.F.L. victory together. Ryan did not coach like a rookie; Sanchez did not play like one.

?We needed to call the N.F.L.P.A. and put him on the banned substances list,? nose tackle Kris Jenkins said, referring to the players union. ?Because whatever he said was performance enhancing.?

Cornerback Darrelle Revis watched the way Ryan?s eyes watered with emotion as he spoke, noting how much this meant to him. Linebacker Bart Scott, who followed Ryan north from Baltimore in the off-season, watched the way the body language of his teammates changed when they were infused with Ryan?s passion.

Jenkins said the Jets had taken note of the experts? predictions for their season. With a rookie coach, a new defensive system and an untested quarterback, few thought the Jets would be contenders. Fewer still picked them to win in Houston. Jenkins called that chatter a slap in the face.

In his speech, Ryan reminded his players that he believed in them, reminded them to play the physical brand of football he installed and told them they would put the Texans ?to sleep? by the end of the fourth quarter.

?You can tell the passion is genuine, and it?s authentic,? Scott said. ?Not some premade, win-one-for-the-Gipper garbage. Just straight to the point. It?s coming from his heart.?

It was yet another example of how Ryan has changed the Jets, a team that missed the playoffs because of losses in four of the final five games last season, through words both confident and boastful.

This started with his first news conference as the coach in January, when Ryan intimated the Jets would meet the president after winning the Super Bowl in the next few years. It continued through the off-season, as Ryan tweaked his coaching counterparts, playfully challenged a division linebacker to a fight and ranked what seemed like every position on his team among the best in the N.F.L.

All the boasting made the Jets want to prove their coach correct. It seemed to seep into their thought process, driving everything they did. Over eight months, Ryan appeared to change their attitude with his attitude, one that left Scott saying that Ryan would be his first choice as a partner for an alley brawl.

?He talks trash,? Jenkins said. ?And he gives us the opportunity to back it up.?

In his speech, Ryan told the Jets they had found their quarterback in Sanchez. Sure, he was the first rookie to start for the franchise since 1977, and the first to start on opening day since 1960. But when Richardson watched Sanchez chew out a teammate last week for lining up incorrectly, he knew Sanchez was ready.

Sanchez displayed poise rarely seen from rookie quarterbacks, completing 18 of 31 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown with one interception against the Texans. He connected with receiver Chansi Stuckey for a 30-yard score that produced a 10-0 lead, but more important, he repeatedly scrambled away from pressure, converting 10 of 18 third downs to extend drives.

Jenkins described Sanchez as locked in. Ryan reminded reporters afterward that Sanchez had played the way he had expected, even back when the Jets traded up to select him fifth over all in April?s draft.

?His performance is going to turn some heads across the league,? tight end Dustin Keller said. ?That?s something the organization saw in him well before we as a team saw it. Now, everybody has.?

In his speech, Ryan told his defense it would dominate in the physical, tough, yield-absolutely-nothing style he preaches.

That defense recorded two turnovers and two sacks and shut out the Texans, whose only score came when Sanchez?s one interception was fumbled and picked up by Dominique Barber, who rumbled 48 yards into the end zone to cut the lead to 17-7 in the fourth quarter.

The Jets? defense bottled up running back Steve Slaton, who averaged 1.9 yards on nine carries. It harassed quarterback Matt Schaub into a quarterback rating of 55.9. Even the All-Pro receiver Andre Johnson was held to four catches for 35 yards by cornerback Darrelle Revis, who responded in typical Ryan fashion afterward. ?I know how good I am,? Revis said.

In Saturday?s speech, Ryan promised the Jets would run the ball. After a slow start, Thomas Jones had two long gains en route to 107 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, the barrage coming in the second half. In his speech, Ryan said the Jets would make up for the absence of the suspended defensive starters Shaun Ellis and Calvin Pace. With Vernon Gholston (three tackles) and Mike DeVito (fumble recovery), among others, they did that, too.

Afterward, Ryan presented the game ball to the team owner, Woody Johnson. Outside the locker room, Joe Namath sang the praises of Sanchez and the defense. Inside, Jenkins told reporters the Jets believed this season would be remembered as a special one. ?Not bad for a couple of rookies,? Ryan said. ?We?ve been saying it all along. It?s just that nobody wanted to listen.?

Except the Jets. On Saturday night, they heard Ryan, and on Sunday, they responded.